The Secret Life of Your Smartphone

IPA Deputy Research Director Belinda Beeftink looks at how the TouchPoints5 survey will reflect the rapidly evolving consumer landscape

How long do people spend on Facebook? How many followers do Twitter users have on average? When, why and how are people multi-screening? And, how are people spending their time and their money in general these days?

These are just some of the questions covered by the IPA’s unique time-based TouchPoints survey which reveals in-depth insights into how people spend their daily lives, how they use media, how they communicate, how they shop, their attitudes and their moods.

It is also reveals fascinating insights into how the rise in emerging technologies is transforming people’s way of life and the impact of the recession on consumer behaviour.

Over the years the survey has evolved both in terms of how it is conducted and the questions we ask. Back when it started in 2006, we began to collect mood data for the first time asking people if they were in a good mood or a bad mood and whether they were feeling relaxed or alert.

This approach has developed into respondents now selecting from a group of 12 emoticons, which reflect every kind of emotion. They tell us how they are feeling for every half hour through the day.

As the media industry has evolved so have our questions and now, with the latest survey TouchPoints 5 launching on 27th March, we are focussing more than ever on understanding which content people choose to consume, and more importantly which device they use to access it. We track this information for each half hour across a period of a week via our e.diary.

Using the unique e.diary approach, we are able to better understand when people are multi screening both in terms of mobile phone use and tablet use whilst watching the television. We continue to collect in-depth data about how and why people choose to watch catch up television or VOD.

For the first time, we are also asking respondents with a smartphone to complete the e.diary on their own phone. At the same time we are asking them to allow us to collect data passively via their smartphone.

This passive data app will collect anything they are doing on their smartphone, which apps they use, which urls they visit, the calls made and received, text messages made and received and even location.

We will know whether they are Wifi connected or network connected and we will have duration metrics for both apps and urls. This is groundbreaking in its approach and will, for the first time, allow us to combine the benefits of passive data (big data) collection with the survey approach.

We will be able to analyse people's media habits and daily activities as recorded in the e.diary and cross reference that with their smartphone activity reflected in the passive data.

Imagine being able to find out exactly what people are doing with their smartphones when they are at home on a Saturday night watching TV. Crucial insight.

This will undoubtedly move us on in terms of better understanding how people are really dual screening and how we can use mobile as a medium to best effect.